An Unequivocal Parallel
by Jailynn5
Summary: As the darkness swallowed Allies' entire life and anyone she'd ever known, she quickly realized that you have to fight to stay alive or die trying. Left with her father's teachings and her instinct to survive, she is determined to keep breathing. Sometimes being alone is the only way to avoid the pain of losing people you love; but what happens when someone knocks those walls down?
1. Chapter 1

_Chapter One_

* * *

The sun was emerging in the horizon, and even with all of the desolation in the world below it, somehow it still managed to bring a sense of calm through its soft purple and orange highlights. It was a scenic morning in Georgia and due to the passing of the latest thunderstorms, there was a sweet combination of smells, mainly consisting of rain grass and damp soil.

Allie lived for moments like those.

It always reminded her of her childhood, and would take her back in time, to her hometown of Statesboro, Georgia, when things were simple and life was easy.

Those days were long gone now; but as she sat on a soggy rock beneath a weeping willow, picking clovers out of the dirt beneath her, she enjoyed trying to forget all that was diminished around her.

The fact that her family and anyone she'd ever known were now just mere pieces of lost existence was something she'd come to terms with a long time ago; however, on quiet and beautiful mornings like those, she was allowed to ignore reality, and pretend as if all was still the same.

Allie ate one of the small clovers in her hand, trying to get all she could out of this tiny little plant. They weren't much on an empty stomach; but during those times, a couple of clovers were like a four course meal.

"Clovers?" Daryl said questionably, while appearing through the long vines of the willow, "What you know about eating those?"

Allie glared through the corner of her eyes without responding.

She wasn't sure whether or not she liked these two people she ran into a couple of days ago. Her thoughts on Daryl weren't very pleasant, and she pretty much viewed him as egotistical and obnoxious, forever commenting on her knowledge of outdoor skills.

"They're better boiled" he said, as he leaned down and twisted a dirty pebble between his two fingers.

Again Allie didn't respond, but instead just glared at him, while continuing to pull the clovers from the ground.

"Not much of a talker huh?" Daryl said.

"Nope"

"Well, I don't know if you're planning on stickin' around, but if you are, you're gonna have to start talking sometime" Daryl said, while looking over at Allie.

Allie just looked down towards the soil silently, avoiding immediate eye contact.

"I'm not" she muttered, "planning on sticking around, that is"

Daryl stood up and placed a hand above his eyes, as the sunlight beamed towards them.

"You have somewhere better to go?" he asked.

Allie chuckled discreetly.

"Yeah, this five star hotel about two miles from here"

Daryl raised an eyebrow before noticing Allie's sarcasm.

"Funny" he said, while smirking a bit.

Suddenly a crackle in the grass caused both Allie and Daryl to turn around quickly, with their hands on their weapons; but after a few seconds Beth appeared, looking at both Daryl and Allie's stance confused.

"Sorry" she said politely, "didn't mean to startle you both"

Allie sat back down on the rock and lifted her feet up in front of her, leaning her arms on top of her knees.

"Have you given any thought to what I suggested yesterday?" Beth asked Daryl, "about seeing if the others may have gone back to the farm?"

"Yeah, it's a possibility I guess" he said, while kicking some dirt around with his foot, "but it's also taking a risk too. There's no tellin' how many walkers are there now."

"I don't know, I've just got this feeling that Maggie would have ended up back there too, thinking the same thing I am"

Allie's hood was over her head, and her eyes focused in front of her, but she was listening to every word spoken between both Beth and Daryl.

In the short couple of days she'd been with them, she learned they were looking for a bunch of people they were separated from.

While she understood that almost anyone would want to hold out on hoping that the people they once knew were still alive somewhere, she knew the reality of it all, was that they were most likely dead.

"These people you are looking for…" she interrupted, "…what makes you so sure they're even alive anymore?"

Beth's face grew saddened, and she bit her bottom lip as she processed the question in her mind.

"They are" Daryl said, while spitting on the ground in front of him.

"Have you seen it out here?" Allie asked confused.

"We have a group of really tough people" Beth stated.

Allie shrugged, not any more convinced than she was two minutes prior.

"You wanna help us out?" Daryl turned to Allie and asked, "Before you leave, that is?"

"Help you out how?" Allie asked, with her eyebrows creased.

"Come with us to this farm, and help us clear it out"

"Clear it out?" she questioned.

"Yeah, it's a big house. If we can clear it out, than we could at least crash in it for a while" he said, "you could also, we aint gonna kick you out if you help us".

"How big is it?" Allie asked, with a smug look on her face.

"Well the land is pretty big, and the house has a lot of bedrooms, so there's plenty of space" Beth answered.

"How do you even know about this farm?" Allie asked while cracking her neck to the side a bit.

Beth's face saddened.

"I-it was my dad's farm" she said, while looking away "before it got overrun"

Allie observed Beth's sadness immediately.

"Did he die there?" she asked cautiously, "did they kill him?"

Beth just shook her head no, as the tears started forming in her eyes.

Allie eyes wandered, as she regretted asking as soon as she started to see Beth getting emotional.

"She just lost him recently" Daryl said, "he was murdered"

Allie peered at Beth's face, and could tell she no longer wanted to continue the conversation.

"Sorry" she whispered towards her, "I lost my dad not that long ago also"

Beth wiped her tears with the back of her hand, and tried to compose herself.

"I'm sorry also, for your loss" she said softly.

Allie nodded to acknowledge her words, but then made eye contact with Daryl.

"So how far is it?" she asked, "this farm?"

"About two miles south of us" he answered.

Allie glanced at Beth, and even though she hated to admit it, she felt kind of bad for her.

It wasn't like she had anything better to do anyway. She would just wander aimlessly alone, in search of food, or supplies or whatever.

She wasn't much of the conversationalist these days, but she had to admit, having people around her to talk to here and there wasn't all that bad, especially being that she had been conversating with herself for the past five weeks.

"I'll help you" she said.

"Really?" Beth asked, becoming a bit excited.

"Yeah" she answered, while smiling a bit at Beth's reaction, "but after a couple days, I'm gonna head out on my own"

Daryl nodded and cracked a small smile in return.

He wasn't sure what this girl's story was, or why she was so reserved; all he knew was that she seemed very familiar to him, like he was staring into a mirrored image of himself.

Michonne, of course, was fairly reserved in the beginning as well, but still, her persona was very different than Allie's.

Allie was an outdoorsy chick, very well-educated on survival the old fashioned way, which included killing rodents to eat, and consuming leafs to stay hydrated. Then on top of all that, she was a loner. She kept to herself, and even around others, still refrained from communication as much as possible.

Something about her was very interesting to Daryl, and he found himself almost challenging the thought of finding out more about her.

"Well we better start heading out now then; we got about two hours' worth of walking to do" he suggested, as he dipped below the willow vines and began making his way over to their set up camp a few feet away.

As Daryl walked away, Beth followed, but stopped to face Allie for a second.

"Thank you" she said softly, and then continued trailing behind Daryl.

Allie briefly smiled as Beth walked away, and then took one last gaze towards the sun ahead, before sliding off the rock and following them.


	2. Chapter 2

_Chapter Two_

* * *

"Wow" Beth said as she slumped onto the porch steps of her old home, "That took a lot out of me"

Daryl took a seat beside her, and began trying to place his bloody arrows back into the holster of the crossbow.

"Wasn't as bad as I thought though", he said, "coulda been a whole lot worse"

Allie stood in front of them, winding the rope of her harpoon into a knot behind her.

"That harpoon…" Daryl gestured, "whadya steal it off a fishing boat or something?"

"Nah" Allie answered, while squinting her eyes, "it was my dad's"

Daryl nodded, knowing the weapon must have had some kind of sentimental value to it.

"Was he a fisherman?" Beth asked carefully, "your dad?"

"Yeah" Allie nodded, while restraining from showing any emotion, "something like that"

Beth sympathized; but she could tell that Allie was limited on showing emotion.

Allie turned her attention towards the pile of scrapped and burnt wood in the distance that once stood as the barn.

"Did that go up in flames before you left here?" she asked.

"Yeah, the night the barn was overrun" Daryl answered.

"And that camper, anything in it we could use?" she said; pointing to Dales RV, that still sat in the very spot it was left in.

Beth's face became pained. She didn't even want to look inside the RV. If there was anything left of Jimmy, she definitely didn't want to see it.

Daryl noticed Beth's response, and instantly knew why she hadn't answered.

"I'm gonna go take a look inside it" he said, getting up from the stairs, "Wait here"

As Daryl made his way towards the RV, Allie took a seat beside Beth. She wasn't the typical person she would have attempted to make conversation with, before everything in the world went sour; however, she thought Beth was kind-hearted… perhaps too kind-hearted for this world, but nonetheless.

Allie scanned the open space around them with her eyes, once again reminding herself of what it was like back on her family's farm as a kid.

"You grew up here?" she asked.

"Yeah, pretty much"

"I heard you mention a girl named Maggie earlier, is that your sister or something?"

Beth nodded.

"I really thought she would have been here" she said, as she began fiddling with her fingers.

Allie didn't respond, death was all too familiar now days, and based on what she'd seen so far, she assumed the girl's sister was probably gone; however, she kept her opinion to herself.

"Maybe she's on her way" Allie suggested, even though she doubted her own words.

Beth faked a smile, "Maybe"

"Well this house looks cozy enough for you guys to stay safe for at least a couple of days" Allie suggested, trying to change topics.

"Yeah, I guess" she spoke softly, "are you going to stay with us?"

"Probably just for tonight"

Beth's expression of sadness began mixing with curiosity.

"Is it scary?" she asked, "…being out there alone?"

Allie thought about it for a few minutes before answering, "not really scary… sometimes a little depressing"

"Do you miss your family?" Beth added.

Allie nodded and took a deep breath, "everyday".

Beth lowered her head, till her eyes were fixated on the step below her.

"Sometimes I wish I would just get killed already" she said with despair in her voice, "then it would all be over, and I would be with the people I love again… like my dad"

Allie glanced over at Beth, a little confused by her words. She understood the pain of loss, but wishing to be killed? She wasn't sure she could relate to that. Anyone who made it this far without dying, had to want to live, didn't they? Beth was too fragile for this world, and she was amazed she lasted this long already.

"Yeah, well… were here" Allie shrugged, "minds well try and make the best of it"

Beth let out a small laugh, "We've all got jobs to do"

Allies eyebrows furrowed in response, wondering why Beth chuckled.

"My dad used to say that" she cracked a small grin.

Allie smiled in response and said, "smart man"

"He was" Beth agreed.

Silence progressed for a few minutes, and both Allie and Beth just sat quietly observing the space in front of them.

"You should stay" Beth suggested, breaking the quiet, "…the others would like you"

Allie smiled, and jokingly responded, "yeah, but I might not like them"

Beth laughed a bit, but then made a serious attempt to convince Allie to stay.

"No, really though, I think you would be a great person to have in our group"

"I don't know, I can be moody", Allie laughed, still trying to avoid Beth's serious suggestion.

"Just think about it" Beth added, "you wouldn't have to be alone anymore"

Allie nodded, taking Beth's suggestion seriously this time; but she didn't speak.

She hadn't been with a group of people, since losing her family, and she wasn't sure she could handle losing others after getting close to them. In this world, nothing and no one was permanent, she became accustomed to that. Why bother gaining a friendship with other people, when there was a strong possibility that they could be ripped to shreds the next day? It was something she wanted to avoid, something she couldn't bear to experience again.

She was better off alone.

"Found a shot gun, with a few bullets, but that about it" Daryl shouted as he made his way back over from the RV.

"A shot gun?" Beth repeated in question, knowing all too well that was the last weapon Jimmy had the night everything went down on the farm.

Daryl took it from the decaying pieces of flesh and bone that laid inside the RV, forgetting for a split second that Beth would be sensitive to the fact that this was Jimmy's weapon.

"Mhm" he muttered, while avoiding eye contact with her.

Beth took a deep breath, and then picked herself up from the stairs, "I think I'm gonna go lay down in my old bed", she turned towards the entrance, "it's been too long", she added, before opening the screen door.

"Keep your knife handy" Daryl suggested, "We cleared it all out, but you never know"

Beth nodded, and then disappeared into the house.

"Seems like being back here is taking a bit of a toll on her" Allie assumed.

"Yeah I guess" Daryl agreed, "it's gotta be rough, she lost a lot'a family"

"Haven't we all?" Allie said.

Daryl nodded his head in agreement, and started to head inside the house also.

"I'm gonna see if I can scrounge up some leftover food, gonna come?" he asked.

Allie nodded and got up to follow him into the house.

* * *

Daryl made his way up the stairs to bring Beth a bowl of canned spinach him and Allie found in the cupboards of the kitchen. He approached the closed bedroom door, and quietly knocked. Beth didn't come to the door, so he tried to turn the knob, but it was locked.

"Beth?" he called out from behind the door, "I got food for ya"

"Can you just leave it downstairs for a now?" she yelled from inside the room, "I'm not really hungry right now"

Daryl knew she was upset, so he didn't argue. He just nodded, even though she couldn't see him, and returned back towards the stairs.

Beth lay on her bed with the blankets covering her. Her face was soaked from tears, as she held a framed picture of her family next to her. She didn't think coming back to the farm would have this bad of an effect on her, but it did. All she wanted to do was lie in her bedroom, in her bed, forever, and forget any of this had ever happened.

* * *

Daryl returned to the kitchen and placed the bowl of spinach on the counter. He looked around but didn't see Allie anywhere. He became confused, wondering if the secretive girl just took off with no notice.

He scanned the living, and dining rooms, but she wasn't in sight. He made his way back upstairs to see if maybe she just made her way into an empty bedroom to get rest.

When he approached the top of the stairs, he noticed a corner window was wide open, and the breeze was sweeping across the hallway. He stuck his head out, and found Allie sitting on top of the small roof, observing the night sky ahead.

He climbed out the window and took a seat a few feet away from her.

"Countin' stars?" he said jokingly.

She rolled her eyes, but chuckled.

"Are you always this mocking?"

He let out a laugh, "I guess so. Gotta find a way to laugh every now and then, ain't many things funny these days"

Allie shrugged, than asked, "Can't sleep or something?"

"Nah. Gotta keep an eye out, make sure there's no lurkers"

"I can keep watch ya know" she snarked.

Daryl nodded and put his hands up in response, "I know, I know. Just got used to not havin' much sleep. I can run on empty for days without crashin' now"

Allie nodded in agreement.

"So what's your story?" she asked, "where are you from?"

Daryl glanced over towards her, through the corner of his eyes.

"I got no story" he said, "grew up in north Georgia, that's 'bout it"

"Did you lose your family in this too?" she continued.

"Nah" he said, while chucking a small scrapple of roofing in front of him, "other means"

Allie nodded.

"What about you?" he asked, "what's your story?"

She shook her head, and raised an eyebrow, "Nothing short of, I grew up in Georgia, everything was fine until all this shit broke loose…. Watched my friends die one by one, and then my family afterwards… it's been, well, pretty fucking shitty"

Daryl watched her as she spoke, knowing that she had to have experienced a great deal since the world went to shit.

"I'm sorry to hear that" he said softly, "about your family an' stuff"

Allie nodded, "Thanks, but I'm numb to it all now" she extended her legs out and crossed them at the ankles, while leaning back on her hands, "it's just the way it is now right?"

Daryl agreed.

"Your harpoon, you're pretty sick with it." Daryl complimented, trying to sway the mood off of death.

She chuckled, "Ha, thanks, I've had a lot of practice with it"

"You said it was your dads?" he asked, "was he a fisherman?"

"Yeah, he was a whaler for twenty five years… until all this started" she continued, "after the dead started rising up and trying to eat the living; he discovered that it was a pretty good tool for surviving"

Daryl agreed, "That's for sure"

Allie smiled, "he gave it to me before he died, told me to keep it with me, to remember him… and I've had it ever since"

Daryl shook his head, to acknowledge her story; but, as Allie always did, she quickly brushed off the painful memories of her father's death, and unexpectedly stood up.

"I'm gonna go inside and get some rest, you sure you don't want me to keep watch?" she asked before climbing back into the window.

"Nah, you go ahead" he responded.

She nodded, and then retreated back into the window.

Daryl scuffled up against the siding and made himself comfortable, ready to take on the long hours of darkness while keeping himself awake.

The sky was filled with hundreds of stars that night, and as he looked up and observed them, he couldn't help but wonder whether or not these days would ever end? The constant struggle of survival and everyday fearing you may not see the next sunrise was extremely exhausting. It felt like the days of normalcy and simple life were centuries gone already, and the mere thought of any kind of civilization ever occurring again, seemed like a long shot.

His life was peaches before any of this started anyhow, but he almost wished he could go back to his old neighborhood and watch the drug deals take place and the racial disputes all over again. That was his normal before all of this. But those days were over, and all he had to look forward to now, was worry and impending death.

He placed his crossbow in his lap, and pulled one leg up, placing his elbow on it, to rest his head on his hand. It was going to be a long night.

* * *

The early morning sunrise beamed across Daryl's face, and within seconds he jumped up, mentally scolding himself for falling asleep. He quickly scanned the land below him, but didn't see any walkers anywhere. He grabbed his crossbow and climbed into the window, and quickly descended down the stairs. When he reached the bottom of the steps, he found Allie sitting at the dining room table, trying to sharpen her knife with a rock, she must have picked up outside somewhere.

"You been up long?" Daryl asked, still trying to rub the morning crust out of his eyes.

"Couple hours" she answered, "I stuck my head out the window and saw you sleeping, so I came downstairs to keep watch"

"You could'a woke me"

"Nah, you looked peaceful, plus, I didn't want to put my safety in your hands again" she joked, "falling asleep and all"

Darryl grimaced, "yeah yeah"

He walked into the kitchen, in search of another canned vegetable he could eat; but when he approached the counter he noticed that Beth's bowl of spinach was still sitting there, untouched.

His eyebrows scrunched in confusion, and he walked back into the dining room.

"You haven't seen Beth come down at all?" he asked Allie.

"Nope, not as far as I know" she answered, "she's probably just mentally drained and really tired"

Daryl considered that, and assumed Allie was probably right.

"I'm gonna go check the water pumps in the wells outside, see if any of 'em still work" he said, "Can you check on Beth, see if she's okay?"

Allie nodded, and continued sharpening her knife.

Daryl made his way towards the front door, but briefly glanced up the stairs before exiting. He had a strange feeling, and something told him that Beth was going to be really depressed and hard to deal with the next couple of days. Maybe coming back here wasn't such a good idea after all.

A few minutes after Allie left, she placed the rock into her satchel and clipped her knife into the holster on the side of her hip.

She made her way up the stairs and towards Beth's bedroom door. She knocked softly at first, but there was no response.

"Beth? You up?" she shouted from outside the door.

Suddenly she heard a light groan, and her head quickly tilted in curiosity.

"Beth are you okay?" she yelled again, but still no answer from Beth.

She heard the groan again, this time slight bit louder than before. Her eyes widened and she hurried over to the open hallway window and yelled outside.

"Uh, Daryl, you better get in here… I think we have a problem."

Daryl looked up at Allie in the open window and quickly began running back towards the house.

Allie slid her knife into the crack of the door, bringing it down to unlatch the lock.

She slowly creaked the door open, and gasped at what she saw.

"Holy shit" Daryl said from behind her, as he finally approached the door.

Beth, or the former version of her rather, was slouched up against the bedframe, her throat slit and her head hanging to the right by a piece of flesh.

"Ughhhh" the now, turned Beth, moaned at Allie and Daryl's presence within the room, and began crawling towards them.

Daryl hesitated for a moment, and Allie noticed right away that it wouldn't be easy for him to put her out, so she gestured for him to walk away, and let her do what needed to be done.

Daryl took one last look at the deformed, flesh eating, version of his friend, and nodded in agreement to Allie, before walking out of sight.

Allie shook her head in disbelief as she watched it crawl towards her, trying to comprehend the fact that Beth had given up so far, as to slice her own throat, in efforts to leave this cruel world.

She grabbed a hold of Beth's dangling head, and the walker growled in argument. Allie briefly looked away, and stabbed the middle of Beth's forehead with her knife, silencing the room completely.

She pulled the knife out, and Beth's body dropped to the floor. Allie stood there, staring down at yet another person dead. Another person she knew, even if it was only briefly. And with that, she wondered whether or not Beth was right… if it was better to be dead than to survive in this world?

* * *

**A/N:** Please review and tell me what you think!


	3. Chapter 3

_Chapter Three_

* * *

Daryl wiped the back of his hand across his forehead, clearing the sweat from dripping into his eyes as he placed the last pile of dirt on top of Beth's burial.

Allie was helping him for quite a while; but towards the end, Daryl asked if she could just let him finish alone.

He wanted to finish it himself; he felt Beth deserved that. Especially due to the fact that he just didn't have it in him to put her out earlier.

It had been a long road with Beth, and he was proud of her for how strong she had been through all of this. She may have been sensitive and possibly over emotional at times, but she was a good person and a great friend.

He dreaded the day he would finally find the others and have to tell them what happened to her, and that she was gone. He knew Maggie wouldn't take it well, not after just losing her father too. Beth was all she had left of her immediate family, and Daryl knew how hard it was to lose a sibling, especially when they are all you have left.

He pressed the shovel into the ground and leaned against it, mentally saying a final goodbye to Beth. He felt good knowing he buried her next to her mother; he figured that's what she would have wanted.

After saying his goodbyes to Beth, he began walking back over towards the porch, where he found Allie laying on the far corner leaned up against the railing with her hood hanging low, coving her eyes. She must have fallen asleep, and Daryl tried not to wake her. He took a seat on the steps and just stared off into the stretched out land in front of him, getting lost in his own thoughts.

He had no idea what his next steps would be or what the plan was. Allie said she didn't plan on staying, so he knew she'd probably be on her way shortly, and now, without Beth he would be left alone. It wasn't like he was any stranger to doing things alone. He wasn't; but, after being with people for so long, he wasn't sure he was looking forward to being a loner again.

Being alone meant having to fend for yourself at all times. Having to figure out a way to sleep when there is no one else around to take watch for you, and keeping an eye on your own back at every single minute of the day. It wasn't easy being a loner, and it took a lot of work to keep yourself safe without a helping hand around, just in case.

He had to admit he missed the others. Rick especially. The two of them weren't always close, but in recent months, Rick became like a brother to him. They had each other's backs, and even when things were complicated, and they didn't agree on everything, they still supported one another. He was happy to call Rick his friend; but lately, after not finding anyone in weeks, he was starting to lose hope that he ever would. Who knew what happened to everyone, or how far they may have gone, or if they were even still alive. There was no telling, it was completely up in the air.

"Hey" Allie spoke lightly, as she pulled her hood from over her eyes.

Daryl gave her a nod in response.

"You okay?"

Daryl shook his head yes, still not talking in response.

Allie picked herself up and walked over towards Daryl, taking a seat next to him on the steps.

"Was she your girlfriend?" she asked.

Daryl's eyebrows scrunched and his head jerked back in reaction.

"My girlfriend?" he repeated back in question.

Allie figured out the answer by just his facial expression alone.

"Sorry" she said, "I just kind of assumed"

"You shouldn't assume" he snapped back.

Allie gave him a nasty look, not taking a liking to the attitude he shot at her for asking a simple question. How the hell was she supposed to know?

Daryl's face calmed, and he realized he might have been a little too quick with his tongue.

"Nah" Daryl said, "She was a good friend, that's all… just a kid"

"Coulda just said that" Allie responded, while rolling her eyes.

Daryl gave Allie a nod; he didn't like admitting he was wrong. He shouldn't have snapped, but it had been a long day, and his frustration was starting to get the best of him.

"So…" Allie said, "What's your plan now?"

Daryl looked at her out of the corner of his eyes and shrugged.

"Gonna try and find my people"

Allie nodded.

"What about you?" he asked.

"I don't know yet" she answered, "I have to say, this farm has been about the safest I've gotten in weeks"

"Yeah" he agreed, "for me too"

"It almost seems as if this place is secluded from all that shit out there, it's weird"

"Yeah, but it ain't got any fences anymore, so it ain't really all that safe" he said.

"True, but it's safer than it's been out there in the dead zone" she said jokingly.

Daryl shrugged.

"For now I guess", he said, "I gotta keep moving again in a couple of days though, gotta keep looking"

Allie nodded and asked, "A couple of days?"

"Yeah" he answered, "Gotta think it over first, try and figure out where else they would've went"

"Well, if you want company for the next couple of days" she suggested, "I don't have anywhere better to go"

Daryl scanned Allie and joked, "Not checking in at that five star hotel?"

She chuckled at his sarcasm and said, "Asshole".

Daryl laughed quietly.

"So is there anywhere around here that we can look for some supplies or canned foods or something?" she asked, "There isn't many left in that kitchen"

"I'm not sure" he answered, "there was a couple of stores not too far from here, but they might be ran through already"

"Well, we can always try" she suggested, "We can go tomorrow morning"

Daryl nodded his head in agreement.

"Why don't you go get some rest or something?" she said, "I can keep watch, it's been a long day, go ahead"

Daryl just looked at Allie, but he knew he needed to get some kind of shuteye. He was exhausted from all that happened today, and his arms were killing him from digging.

He stood up from the steps and made his way inside the house, without saying a word.

Allie leaned back onto her elbows, and just observed the surroundings. This wasn't bad, this arrangement. She wasn't sure if it would last long, but she definitely liked having a safe place to stay put in for a bit.

Xxxxxxxxxxx

* * *

Daryl awoke with a yawn and stretched himself around the mattress, feeling refreshed from sleeping for, what felt like hours. He glanced over at the window across from him and noticed there was a crack of sunlight coming in through the middle of the worn out curtains. He wondered what time it was, how long he actually was sleeping for.

He removed himself from the bed, and unlocked the bedroom door. As he walked to the end of the hallway and reached the top of the stairs, he could smell what seemed like a cooked meal, coming from downstairs.

His face creased in confusion, and his speed increased as he flew down the stairs.

He walked into the kitchen to find Allie sitting at the counter with an empty plate of crumbs in front of her.

"Well good morning" she said with a smile, as she turned the page of some old nature magazine she found lying around the house.

Daryl walked over to the stove and observed a frying pan with cooked venison in it. He seemed very confused. When did she hunt down a deer? And how the hell did she cook it on the stove with no electric or gas?

"Hungry?" she asked, "Help yourself. Trust me, I've ate just about as much as I could handle"

Daryl picked a piece out of the pan with his fingers and put it in his mouth. It was the best he'd tasted in a long time. And it was seasoned? He couldn't even process it.

"What are you some kind of magician?" he asked.

Allie raised an eyebrow, "A simple thank you would be enough"

He picked some more pieces out of the pan and ate them, licking the juice off his fingers.

"When did you get this?" he asked.

"In the middle of the night" she said, still turning the pages, "I was on the roof keeping watch, when I saw a deer walking around by the pile of scraps and the RV. I wasn't going to even bother at first, but the thought of eating some meat was to appealing to pass up"

"And the stove?" Daryl asked, gesturing towards it.

"Oh, that was easy" she said, "I lit a match. Apparently there is still a gas supply in there"

Daryl nodded. This girl was smart, he thought.

He continued eating whatever was left in the pan, enjoying every last piece of it.

"So you know how to hunt, gut it, dress it, and cook it, huh?" he asked.

"What, you're surprised?" she answered.

"Nah" he said, licking his fingers, "kind of impressed"

Allie laughed, "yeah well, don't assume" she said, jokingly referring to his snarky response the day before.

Daryl snickered, she was pretty funny this one.

"So, being that you got your beauty rest, are you ready to go on that run?" she asked sarcastically.

Daryl narrowed his eyes at her humor.

"Yep" he slid his finger around the remaining juices of the pan, licking his finger after, "ready when you are"

"let's go" she said, while getting up from her seat.

Daryl nodded and the two made their way towards the door.

Xxxxx

* * *

After walking a while, Allie and Daryl reached a small abandoned town with a couple mom-n-pop shops lined along the street. It wasn't the same place Daryl had seen when the whole group was living on the farm; but hopefully that was a good thing. Hopefully that meant that the stores hadn't been completely ransacked yet.

As the two of them approached a worn down pharmacy and convenient store, they drew their weapons, ready to attack if needed.

Daryl opened the door and peeked inside, while Allie took watch of the street. He slowly creped inside, and Allie followed behind him, carefully scanning their surroundings. The place was moderately stocked and looked like they could possibly get a bunch of stuff to take back.

Daryl and Allie both split up, scanning each isle to make sure all was clear.

Daryl started walking down his third isle, and stopped when he seen an expired box of cracker jacks sitting on the shelf. He grabbed them and opened the top, stealing a few out the box.

"Good shit" he mumbled to himself, and then placed the box in his jacket.

As he turned the corner, he was pushed back by a disfigured and decaying walker.

"Argg" it moaned, as it crashed into him, causing him to fall backwards over an empty milk crate that was sitting on the floor behind him.

His crossbow dropped to the ground, and as he struggled to retrieve his knife with one hand, and hold the walker with the other, it began slapping its teeth together, inches away from his face.

Just as Daryl was about to pull the knife from the holster, Allie's harpoon shot through the walkers head, and out of its forehead in front of him.

Daryl threw the corpse off of him, and Allie pulled the harpoon back out of its head.

"Thanks" he said quietly, and she nodded in return.

He picked up his crossbow, and wiped the drops of splattered blood off his face.

"I think that was the only one" she said.

"Yeah, well keep your weapons ready, just in case"

"Always do" she said swaggering, knowing all too well that she just saved his ass.

Daryl smirked at her comment, and then started looking around for things to grab.

Allie made her way down one of the isles, and happened to find a couple bottles of metallic red hair dye. She started grabbing about six of them, throwing them into her satchel.

Maybe it was a bit too girly to want to keep up with her fire-red hair, but that was _her thing_ and scoring a couple of bottles of it, years after the world basically ended, was pure luck. She just had to take them.

As she placed the last bottle into her bag, Daryl appeared next to her.

"Hair dye?" he mocked, "would you like some mascara too?"

She nudged him away from her, laughing a little herself.

"Hey" she said, while walking away, "I don't wanna lose my edge"

Daryl smirked. This girl _really_ was something.

Xxxxxxx

* * *

After the two of them gathered whatever they could carry, they returned back onto the street, ready to start heading back to the farm.

They made it about one block when something caught Daryl's attention. He held his hand out, motioning Allie to stop for a second.

She looked at him confused, and he pointed down towards the end of the road where there were three walkers tied to a tree by a rope. The bottoms of their jaws were cut off, and they were missing their arms.

Allie still didn't understand what the big deal was.

"You want to kill them?" she asked confused, "they aren't going anywhere"

"Nah" Daryl answered, examining the tied up corpses, "a girl from my group… she used to do that to the walkers when she was out on her own. Maybe she's nearby"

Allie looked really confused. Why would someone keep walkers tied up with them? What were they some kind of pets? She thought.

Daryl started walking over towards the mangled walkers, and scanned the small brick house behind them.

"Cover me" He whispered to Allie, as he began approaching the steps of the house.

Allie wasn't sure this was a good idea, but she complied anyway, trailing behind him with her harpoon raised.

Daryl slowly pushed the door open, and the first thing he saw was a walker sliced in half on the floor, with a head wound as well.

It was a clean cut right through it, like one that would be made with a _sword_.

He took a couple steps inside, scanning the living room to the left of him.

Suddenly they heard a creak in the ceiling, as if someone took a step on the second floor.

He turned to Allie and placed his finger over his lips, motioning her to be really quite as they began making their way to the second floor.

As he reached the top, he slowly went to turn the around the bend when he was startled by someone jumping out in front of him with their weapon held high.

Allie raised her harpoon, and seconds before releasing it towards the unknown person Daryl placed his hand out in front of Allie to stop her.

"Daryl?"

"Holy shit, Michonne? I knew those walkers out there had to be yours" Daryl said as he lowered his crossbow, and extended a hand out to her.

Allie just glared at her, still holding her weapon in defense, simply because she didn't know this woman.

Michonne smiled at Daryl, happy to finally see someone she knew; but her face grew cold when she seen Allie behind him, with her weapon still extended.

Allie scanned Michonne up and down, never changing her expression, and as soon as Daryl realized the energy between the two, he placed a hand on top of Allie's harpoon and pushed it down, forcing her to lower it completely.

"This is Michonne" he said to Allie, "she's one of the people in my group"

Allie's eyes stayed fixed on Michonne, as she nodded in response.

Daryl just looked back and forth at the two of them, knowing all too well that neither of the two were any good with meeting new people.


	4. Chapter 4

_Chapter Four_

* * *

Allie walked through the upstairs hallway of the abandoned brick house, peaking in each door and observing the bedrooms. Daryl and Michonne were downstairs, getting reacquainted she guessed. She wasn't sure of her first impressions of this woman, all she knew was she didn't like meeting new people. She just started to get used to being around two strangers, and then one dies, and now she had to meet another one? She wasn't sure she wanted any part of it.

She didn't trust people.

Even if you thought you knew someone, in this world, they could leave you for dead in a heartbeat. She learned that already with her own family, and she wasn't about to jeopardize her own safety for some girl with a _samurai warrior sword_; even if Daryl did know her.

As she continued peaking inside the bedrooms upstairs, she came to the last door of the hallway. There was a child's drawing attached to it by a thumb tack. It had a stick figure drawing of a little girl in a pink dress, with a crown on top of her head. The top read, in immature handwriting, 'The Princess's Room'. She smiled at the illustration; but her face quickly stiffened when she thought of the little girl that lived in this bedroom.

God only knows what happened to her. Seeing people dying left and right may make you almost numb to the thought of death; but, to think of a poor innocent child _dying or fighting_ to survive in this chaos, just broke her heart.

She turned the knob and opened the door slowly, always ready to attack, _just in case_. The room was empty though, and her eyes circled around, studying the painted pink walls with purple and blue butterfly decals all over them.

'Poor thing' she whispered to herself, as her fingers traced along the outside of the purple plush blanket that rested on top of the twin size daybed. There were pictures on the wall of a young girl, displaying all different ages. It must have been school portraits of her, as she entered each new grade level. Allie couldn't help but feel herself becoming depressed at the thought of life never being the same.

Children will never know what it's like to just attend school, graduate, nothing. She wasn't an emotional person, or she trained herself not to be at least, but something about this room was making her head spin. She just didn't understand why this would happen, how a whole world, consisting of billions of people could crumble in a matter of weeks. And if there were any children out there, still surviving this mess, she couldn't even fathom the thought of how horrible it was to basically scrap all and any kind of normalcy, and trade in childhood fun for learning how to kill and stay alive.

She shook her head in disbelief, and decided it was probably best to leave the room, before she really became depressed over it all.

As she walked out and closed the door softly behind her, she noticed a red glare inside the brown satchel that lay against the hallway wall. It must have been that girl's bag, so she just assumed she had something shiny inside of it, causing the glow. But as she walked past it, her face furrowed in curiosity. There was a piece of jewelry of some sort inside the bag, and through the small opening, she could see something that looked very familiar to her. _Too familiar_.

She bent down anxiously and unzipped the remaining portion of the bag, and pulled the necklace out of it.

Her eyes widened at what she'd found, and in seconds her face grew angry as she stood up and raced down the stairs, with the found necklace held tightly in her hand.

Xxxxxxxxxx

* * *

Daryl and Michonne were standing in the abandoned dining area of the house. They had just gone over what they had both done since the attack on the prison, and exchanged stories of where they each thought the others could be, when suddenly Allie came bursting into the room. Her face was furious, and her eyes intense.

'Where did you find this!?" She held out her hand, to reveal a broken gold chain, with a medium sized ruby pendant attached to it.

Michonne reached her arm around and placed her hand on the handle of her sword, out of reaction to Allies commotion.

Allie became within inches of Michonne's face, 'I _SAID_, where the HELL did you find this!?'

Michonne stood firm, never releasing her hand from her sword.

'Found it at an overrun camp' she gritted through her teeth, becoming increasingly annoyed by Allie close presence, 'what's it to you?'

Allie chuckled viciously, 'what's it to me? Let me ask you something? What else did you steal from this over run camp huh?'

Michonne glared at the red-haired girl, not responding.

Daryl was extremely confused, and placed a hand out to separate the two from each other.

Allie slapped his hand away from her, 'don't touch me!'

Daryl's eyes narrowed, 'I don't know what this is about, but you need to calm the hell down'

Allie nostrils flared, and she looked back and forth between Daryl and Michonne with a devious glare.

'I'm outta here' she muttered, before turning around and storming out the front door.

Daryl looked at Michonne confused.

'That bitch is _crazy_' Michonne said, shaking her own head in confusion.

Daryl glanced over at the door as it slammed shut, and then back at Michonne. He then started making a run for the door.

'I'll be back' he shouted as he ran out.

When he got outside, he expected to have to run after Allie; but he was wrong. She was sitting on the step, her leg shaking percussively, while holding the necklace in her hand and examining it.

Daryl carefully took a seat beside her.

'Listen I don't know what that was all about but-'

'She took this from my camp! The one my family and I were at, before everything happened' she was still angry, but not as intensely as she was inside the house.

'Okay' Daryl said nodding his head slightly, 'I'm not sure that would be considered stealin' now a days though… we take shit all the time now'

'No you don't understand!' Allie shot back, 'This is my necklace!'

'I get it, but obviously it was somethin' you left behind wasn't it? She must'a just found it one day while she was out walkin' and came across your family's camp' he suggested.

'No Daryl, you don't understand' she said, while shaking her head, 'I was with my dad about a half a mile outside of camp, trying to hunt something for us to eat. We were all starving and we hadn't had much luck finding anything the past couple of days before, when all of a sudden _my_…' she clenched her face and paused for a second, but then continued, 'My little sister, she screamed on the top of her lungs. My father and I immediately took off running back to camp to see what was going on. When we got there, my sister was crying in my mother's arms, and she was trying to ask her what was wrong, but my sister was hysterical. I walked over to her, and grabbed her, demanding her to tell me what happened, and she said she was picking daisies out of the ground, right behind the camp when she saw a woman come towards her. She said the woman asked her if she was alone, and my sister took off running back to the camp screaming, because she wasn't sure if it was another dead person or not, she was only five. As soon as she said that I grabbed my knife and started checking around the camp for this person, ready to kill her if I had too, and out of nowhere, about a dozen or more walkers appeared, I knew they must have her my sister screaming, and that's why there was so many. One of them came out of nowhere and pinned me up against a tree, snapping my necklace… this necklace, and causing it to fall to the ground. I was too concerned with trying to get the son of a bitch off me and get over to help my family that I never bothered to pick it up after stabbing the piece of shit in its head. Long story short, I lost my entire family that day… and it seems coincidental, _too coincidental_ that out of all the woods in this _entire area_, she finds _my_ necklace on _my _old camp ground!'

Daryl didn't know what to say; but still found himself very confused by why Michonne finding Allie's necklace had anything to do with her losing her family.

'Don't you get it?' she asked, 'she had to have been the woman that approached my sister'

Daryl's head shot back in refusal 'What? You don't know that, and besides, your sister said the person was _dead_'

'Because she was _five_ Daryl!' she yelled, 'Walkers _don't talk_! This woman _asked_ my sister if she was alone!'

Daryl wasn't sure what he was thinking at the moment.

_Did this girl really think Michonne tried to get her family killed so she could ransack their camp for supplies? _Michonne wasn't like that, as far as he knew.

'I don't know' Daryl said, spitting on to the ground in front of him 'Michonne wouldn't try and kill people for no good reason'

'Yeah, well this world changes people, so wake up!', she snapped back, 'you trust no one now a days, nobody is who you think they really are'

Daryl just observed Allie, trying to process all this in his head.

_Could Michonne have done what she thinks she did? Was Allie right? Do you really never know what someone is capable of?_

'Im' a go talk to her, wait here' Daryl said, as he stood up from his position on the stairs.

'I'm not going back to that farm if she's coming with us, I'm telling you that right now' she demanded.

'I said let me talk to her, just… chill the fuck out' he said while returning back into the house.

He walked inside and found Michonne sitting on a dusty dining room chair, her eyes focused on Daryl.

'Well?' she asked.

'When'd you find that necklace?' he asked as he approached her.

'Seriously?' she rolled her eyes, 'you too now?'

'Nah, it's not like that, just answer the question'

'A couple days ago, why? What's the big deal about the damn necklace anyway?' she said, disgust in her voice.

'Because it was hers, she lost it before her camp got overrun'

'Okay?' she raised her hands in question, 'so what's me finding it have to do with any of that? If she wants the necklace, she can have it. It wasn't that nice anyways'

Daryl's eyes narrowed again, 'So you said you found it a couple days ago?'

'Mhm'

Daryl believed Michonne, he trusted her. She wasn't that woman Allie was talking about, she couldn't be.

He rubbed his temples in efforts to figure out how this was all going to work with the three of them. He never wanted to be a lead of a group or anything; this decision making shit wasn't for him.

'You gonna be here for the next couple days?' he asked.

'I don't know, probably' she muttered, 'unless something changes'

'Well give me a few days to figure this all out' he suggested, 'we'll meet you back here in two days, and figure out a plan to find the others'

'Two days?' she repeated, 'what does _Red_ not want me around?'

'I just don't want you two broads goin' at each other's throats'

Michonne rolled her eyes, 'whatever, I like being alone anyhow'

Daryl gave a quick nod, not knowing what else to say.

'Two days' he repeated, 'until then, if anything happens were about 2 two miles west on a farm, you can't miss it from the road'

She nodded reluctantly.

Daryl just walked away and out of the house, and back outside to Allie...


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Thank you so much for the reviews so far, I appreciate them greatly, and I'm glad you are all enjoying this story xoxo**

* * *

_Chapter Five_

* * *

Daryl and Allie made it back to the farm not long after leaving the abandoned house Michonne was staying in. Allie hadn't said much the entire way back, and Daryl wasn't going to press the issue, not yet at least. He figured he'd give her some time to calm down; being that the whole situation with the necklace brought back the memories of losing her family along with it.

Due to Allie's discovery of the gas within the kitchen stove earlier that day, Daryl was able to warm up some canned vegetables and rice they managed to find during their run. He'd gotten so used to eating food cold, straight out of the can, that he wasn't sure he even enjoyed the taste of it warmed anymore.

Allie had disappeared into one of the upstairs bedrooms shortly after they returned and although Daryl didn't want to disturb her, he felt he should bring up some food for her; she had to be at least a little hungry by now.

As he walked up the stairs, trying to balance two bowls in his hand and holding two forks in his mouth, he happened to stumble across the bedroom that Allie was in. The door was cracked open slightly, but enough to see inside. He was about to nudge the door open with his foot when he caught a glimpse of Allie's bare skinned back. He wasn't sure what to do in that moment, and even though his initial reaction was to walk backwards and away from the door, he became mesmerized by her scorpion tattoo, which covered up most of her tanned skin. It began at the center of her shoulders and trailed down, with its tail ending in the middle of her lower back. He had to admit that it was pretty hot, and the way it was covered along the curves of her spine was enough to captivate him for at least a few seconds.

Allie seemed to be searching through one of Maggie's old drawers in hopes of finding a new tank top to put on, being that hers was filled with blood from both the deer she gutted that morning, and the walker she harpooned that afternoon. She finally found a green tank top in one of the top drawers, and decided it would do. It was a bit fitting for her liking, but overall it was clean, and that's all she wanted. As she pulled the top over her head and down her stomach, Daryl realized that he'd been standing there way too long watching her. He backed away and waited a couple of minutes before tapping the wall outside the room with his foot, making sure he was back far enough that Allie wouldn't think he'd saw her.

'Yeah?' she said, her voice not very inviting.

Daryl couldn't speak with the forks in his mouth, so he slowly approached the door a second time, now knowing that Allie would be fully clothed.

Her face was cold for a second; but Daryl signaled her with his eyes to grab a bowl from his hand. She walked over and took one of the bowls from his hands, and he grabbed the forks from his mouth and lightly brushed one across his pants to wipe the dampness off of it, and handed it to Allie.

'Thanks' she muttered, grabbing the fork and sticking it inside the bowl of food.

Daryl gave a quick nod, but didn't say anything. Honestly he couldn't stop thinking about the tattoo, but there was no way he would ask her about it, because then she'd know he saw her.

He turned around to leave the room, assuming she still wanted to be alone for a while.

'Hey' she called out to him softly, and Daryl turned to back to see what she wanted.

'Thanks.. for not kicking me out in the dust earlier' her eyes met his for a second, but she quickly looked towards her food. She wasn't used to showing gratitude now days.

Daryl nodded again, 'just did the right thing'

Allie looked back towards him, but he exited the room right after. She was completely wiped out from the events that took place all day, not really physically, but mentally. Seeing the necklace brought back the horrible memories of watching her entire family die before her eyes, and just having to think about it was making her sick. Then on top of all of that, she was unsure about this woman that Daryl said was part of his group. How in the world would she just happen to stumble upon her necklace in the middle of the woods? It just didn't seem that likely that her story held much truth to it, and what would she want with a broken necklace anyhow? It just didn't make sense to her, and something in her gut was telling her that this woman was involved in a lot more than she was letting on.

The problem was, this was one of Daryl's people, and she was sure that eventually he was going to want to be around the woman again, so they could find the rest of their group together. It wasn't like Allie couldn't leave on her own if she needed to, she could, it was just, although she hated to admit it, and she was starting to enjoy the company of another living human being. After her talk with Beth the first day on the farm, she started thinking about the things she asked her. It was definitely scary out there on her own, and at times it could really drive a person crazy having no one to talk to. However, she knew eventually she'd have to face it alone again, because she didn't think there was any possible way she could be around that woman, and not want to beat the shit out of her for what she strongly believes she was a part of.

Allie placed the bowl of food on the old wooden nightstand next to the bed, and let herself completely collapse into the pillows. It had been an extremely long day, and as hungry as she was, her stomach turning from all the thoughts running through her head was just making the idea of food increasingly unappealing.

Xxxxxxx

* * *

Daryl was sitting on the roof with his crossbow in his lap, keeping his eyes focused on watching the surrounding area. It was a gorgeous night; the temperatures had dropped to comfortable levels, and the soft breeze was enough to send a light chill up his arms, but not enough to be considered too cold. He'd been out there for a while and planned on keeping watch the remainder of the night as well. He figured the least he could do for Allie right now was let her sleep. She had a rough day, and she also hadn't had any sleep the night before, being that she kept watch and allowed Daryl to sleep for an extremely long time. It also gave him time to gather his own thoughts, and think about everything.

The whole thing involving the necklace was running circles in his mind. Allie had a point about the rarity in Michonne stumbling upon her necklace in the middle of the woods; but then again, he also knew from experience, that nothing is rare these days. Michonne could have been searching the woods for the others, just as he and Beth had done in the previous weeks. However, he was starting to question why Michonne would even pick the necklace up if she found it? It wasn't like she could take it and pawn it for money or something, and even if for some strange reason she thought it was appealing and wanted to wear it, it was broken, so what was the use in it?

Daryl started rubbing his temples in efforts to clear his head for a moment. He wasn't used to having to make the calls, and honestly he didn't want to have to decide at all. This was usually Rick's job when they were all together. Yeah, Daryl had a say in things, as well as the others; but, Rick was the one who ultimately called the shots. This shit was too confusing, too frustrating, and downright annoying. There was no way he was going to just abandon Michonne after he'd spent all this time trying to find people from his group; however, he also didn't have it in him to kick the new girl to the curb either. Not that he was even sure she would want to stay in the first place, but still. Suddenly his thoughts were interrupted when he heard Allie climbing out the window. He just glanced over at her, wondering why she was awake in the middle of the night.

'Hey' she said softly, before taking a seat on the roof next to him.

'Hey.. can't sleep?' he asked.

Allie shook her head, and leaned back against the siding, 'too much on my mind'.

A small chuckle left Daryl's mouth, 'I know the feelin'

Allie stared ahead, knowing all too much that he was probably referring to her fate. 'I can leave ya know.. I've done it before on my own, I can do it again'

'I didn't say I was gonna make ya leave' Daryl said defensively, 'just need to figure out how it's all gonna work'

Allie brought her thumb to her mouth, biting off a piece of loose skin on its side, 'I don't think it will'

Daryl's eyes narrowed, 'you really think she had somethin' ta do with it?'

Allie's head turned slowly to face Daryl, 'I don't _know_ anything for sure, but I've got a feeling'

Daryl took a deep breath, how could he argue something he wasn't even sure of?

'Can I ask you somethin'?' Allie asked, continuing to gnaw at her thumb, 'how'd you do it? Living with all those people you said you were with?'

'Whaddya mean?' Daryl's face became confused.

'I mean.. learning to deal with people's flaws, peoples annoying habits, people's ways.. and learning to trust them… how did you know one of them wasn't gonna turn on the rest of ya, and set you up or something?'

Daryl shrugged, 'I don' know.. just did. We had a group a' good people'

'Including Michonne, I'm guessing?' Allie rolled her eyes.

'Yeah..' he said, 'including her'

'I don't know' Allie said, her face a bit intimidated, 'I find it hard to do.. maybe I'm just meant to be out there on my own'

Daryl looked at the girl through the corner of his eyes, he knew how she felt. He went through it many times, wondering if he was better off on his own.

'Bein wit people, it has it's perks.. people have your back, when normally no one else would'

Allie shrugged, 'I guess'

'Why ya so curious anyway? I thought you weren't interested in stickin around?' he asked curiously but cautiously.

'Didn't say I was' she answered, but cracked a smirk, insinuating her sarcasm.

Daryl shook his head and a small chuckle left his mouth, 'you always such a smartass?'

Allie laughed, 'maybe.. it's a habit I guess'

Silence lingered for a few minutes, and Daryl found himself shutting his eyes for a split second, only to have them open suddenly when he heard Allie reposition herself. She lifted her legs up to reach her chest, rubbing her hands against her arms.

'Ya cold?' Daryl asked, tilting his head to the side a little to see her.

'Little bit' she answered, 'breeze is making it colder than normal tonight'

Daryl sat up and began taking his leather vest off to give to Allie.

'No, I'm fine, really' she lied, but the thought of Daryl giving her his jacket made her feel a bit uncomfortable.

'Nah your cold, take it' he handed her the jacket.

'You'll get cold' she said, refusing to take it.

'This?' he asked sarcastically, 'this is sunbathing weather'.

When Allie resisted taking the vest, he placed it on top of her knees, forcing her to grab it.

Allie took the vest and draped it over the front of her chest, still feeling uncomfortable about taking it from him.

'Thanks' she muttered, but Daryl just nodded in response, not making eye contact with her.

As he stared forward, Allie couldn't help but find herself observing Daryl's arms. They were tanned, and strong in appearance, with a clear muscle definition.

She jumped when Daryl turned towards her. The _last_ thing she wanted was for him to think she was _checking_ him out, because she wasn't… _was she_?

Daryl noticed her jump, and his eyebrows creased for a second in confusion; but, he turned his head back away without asking.

'Did you want to try and go get some rest? I can keep watch, I'm up anyway' she suggested, noticing his heavy eyes.

'Nah' he said, as he swiped his hands across his face in efforts to wake himself up a bit more, 'You let me sleep all last night, you get some rest.. I'm good'

Allie was becoming used to his stubbornness so she didn't even try to argue; but instead just figured if she stayed out there with him and he happened to fall asleep, then she would take over.

'Alright, but if you don't mind, I'm gonna just stay out here with you.. too quiet inside' she said.

Daryl nodded, and the two continued sitting in silence for what felt like hours.

Xxxxxx

* * *

Daryl eyes opened slowly, and he instantly brought his hand up and placed it over his face to block the sun from beaming down on it. He blinked his eyes a few times before realizing he must have fallen asleep at some point. Immediately cursing at himself for doing so, he tried to get up so he could take a better look around, when he noticed his right arm was pinned down. He looked over to find Allie sleeping on it, her head rested lightly upon the edge of his shoulder. For a second he froze, becoming almost nervous and freaked out at the same time.

'Shit' he said softly to himself, mentally scolding himself for falling asleep in the first place. Allie looked comfortable, her legs were still against her chest and Daryl's vest was still draped over her. As much as he didn't want to wake her, he also didn't want her to wake up in his arms either. She'd probably freak out as much as he was. He thought about it for a few minutes, trying to figure out a way to quickly slip his arm out from underneath her, but he realized quickly that if he did so, she would fall to the side, definitely waking up from it. He gritted his teeth out of frustration, but froze immediately when he felt Allie start to move her head around a bit.

She moved for a split second, and seemed as if she would open her eyes, but instead she snuggled up into his arm even more, and again became still.

'Dammit' Daryl whispered again, knowing now that it was almost impossible to remove his arm without waking her.

After a few minutes of thinking, he had no choice but to wake the girl up, and pray she didn't notice that she'd been cuddled up in his arms all night.

'Allie' he whispered, but she didn't budge. 'Allie' he repeated, this time his voice a bit louder.

He twitched his shoulder a bit, causing her to finally start to wake. She opened her slightly, trying to figure out her surroundings for a second. When she realized where she was, she turned towards Daryl, noticing her head was rested against him, leaving him unable to get up. She quickly jumped, moving herself off of him, and becoming increasingly uncomfortable within seconds.

'Sorry' she said, not making eye contact with him.

'It's all good' Daryl responded as he quickly got to his feet, and started walking towards the window, 'gonna go get somethin to eat'

As he climbed into the window and disappeared from Allie's view, she began mentally scolding herself, and dropped her head into her hands out of shame.

'Well if _that_ didn't make things awkward, I don't know what will' she muttered to herself.


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: Thank you for the reviews again… enjoy ;)**

* * *

**"An Unequivocal Parallel"**

_Chapter Six_

* * *

Daryl hadn't talked much to Allie the remainder of the morning. He kept himself busy by taking walks around the barn, looking for any possible lurkers and examining whatever was left lying around from the last time him and the others were there. He wasn't much for words when awkward situations arose and waking up to Allie lying in his arms was definitely an awkward moment. He didn't know what Allie was thinking about it, and he really wasn't sure whether or not he wanted to know. He just didn't want her to get the wrong impression, that's for sure.

After reaching the back of the house for probably the hundredth time, he took a seat on a tree stump not far from the back entrance to the house. He was honestly really hungry and wanted to go inside to grab a can of vegetables from the kitchen, but he still wasn't prepared with how to face Allie. Not only having to do with the night before, but also with everything concerning Michonne. He had to figure out a plan with all of that, because he really needed to get back to looking for his people.

Michonne was one of them, and as much as he was confused about everything regarding Allie's necklace, he also couldn't kick Michonne to the side because of it either. On the other hand, he hated to do the same to Allie either, even if she hadn't been with the original group.

Daryl sighed as he swiped a hand through his hair. They were just going to have to learn how to get along if they wanted to stick together, and that was that. He didn't have any more time left for petty bullshit, he needed to try and find the others.

Just as Daryl was ready to get up from the stump he was paused by Allie walking around the corner of the house.

'Hey' she said a bit cautiously as she neared him.

He gave a quick nod, about to quickly make his exit when he noticed Allie hold up two squirrels in her hands. His eyebrows creased in question, and a small smirk appeared on his face.

'What the hell?' he asked as he examined the two rodents in her hands.

'Dinner is served' she said while smiling, and Daryl couldn't help but allow a small chuckle to escape from his mouth.

'Nice' he grabbed one from her hand and flicked its stomach, insinuating the meatiness of it, 'ya really do know how ta survive in the wilderness, don't you?'

Allie placed her free hand on her hip and rolled her eyes, 'what did you think, I was lying?'

'Nah, jus' over exaggerating a little' he joked, and she laughed in return.

'Listen, if I wanted to impress you I wouldn't be using the fact that I know how to hunt to do so… unless that's the sorta thing that turns you on' she continued joking and chuckled at her own taunting; but, Daryl's face hardened and within seconds she noticed that he was no longer laughing and he was avoiding eye contact with her. Allie bit her lip, knowing she may have gone too far with her humor. 'Sorry, that was just a joke', she whispered; but Daryl only gave a small nod before walking towards the back door of the house and into the kitchen.

Allie stood there for a few seconds, debating whether or not she wanted to even follow in after him. _Why did he get so uncomfortable from a tiny little joke? _She wasn't serious_… or at least she didn't think she was. No, she wasn't… not at all_. And with that she rolled her eyes, brushed the thought aside, and walked towards the house.

Xxxxx

* * *

Allie leaned into the back of the chair with her arms extended and her neck reclined back. Her stomach was full and she was exhausted. Daryl sat at the far end of the counter, picking at his teeth with his nails. He hadn't really said much of anything besides thanking her for the squirrels, and Allie was starting to become a bit annoyed by his awkwardness all day.

'What's going on with you?' she asked and Daryl glanced up at her.

'Whaddya mean?' he asked; but Allie sensed a bit of an attitude in his tone.

'Um, I mean you've been avoiding me all day, and suddenly you're mute or somethin'?'

'Jus' not in the mood for no talkin, that a problem?' he spat, his nails still sliding through the slits in-between his teeth.

Allie crossed her arms, 'yeah, actually it is for me', she said very matter of factually and Daryl paused his fingers in front of his mouth and just glared over at Allie. 'What did you change your mind about havin' me around or something? Want to try and make me leave on my own so you don't have to have the weight of forcing me to leave on your shoulders or somethin?' her voice was sharp.

Daryl's face furrowed and his eyes began to narrow, 'I never said none of that, you're the one assumin' it', he stood up and looked Allie up and down, 'and not only that; but, if I wanted your ass to leave, I wouldn't beat around the bush, I woulda' been told your ass to get movin'.

'Well, I'm not sure I want to be around someone who is having a conversation with me one minute and then the next minute acting as if they don't know me at all', Allie spluttered back also standing up from her chair.

Daryl's face hardened and he inched closer to Allie, 'I don't know you', he spat with his finger pointed in her direction, 'jus' cause we had a conversation don't mean were fuckin' BFF's'

Allie's facial expression was pure disgust, 'you're an asshole, you know that'

Daryl shook his head and shrugged, 'and you're a goddamn bitch! Getting all in my business and shit' he swung his arm in the air.

'You know what, fuck you!' she said and she walked past him and towards the front door, slamming her shoulder into his as she passed him.

She strapped her satchel and harpoon around her, opened the front door and stormed out of it, slamming the screen door behind her. Daryl was going to let her leave; but quickly he realized the dangers of letting her leave pissed off and in the middle of the night.

'Shit' he muttered as he ran out the door and towards Allie.

'It be pretty dumb to go out there now, while it's dark' he yelled from the porch.

'Nothin I haven't done before' she yelled back over her shoulder in response as she continued walking.

Daryl swung his head back in annoyance and then started running towards her, eventually catching up to her and grabbing a hold of her shoulder. She aggressively shrugged him off of her and she swung around to face him, getting uncomfortable close to his face.

'I didn't ask you for no friendship or nothing all right, I just thought that _maybe_ you were a nice person' she gritted through her teeth; her face inches away from his, 'apparently I was wrong!'

His eyes constricted; but he really didn't know what to say. He knew he was acting like an asshole, but that was the only way he knew how to deal with weird situations. Whenever he felt like a relationship with someone would start getting to emotional, he'd cut them off or just push them away. It was habit that wasn't the easiest to break.

Allie waited for a response, but when it never came, she shook her head and continued walking away. Daryl debated letting her just go; and he just stood there for a few seconds watching the girl grow further and further away, when all of a sudden his eyes narrowed at the sight of something in the distance. He arched his head forward to make out what it was; but as soon as he heard the nasty growling he knew he wasn't imagining things.

'Oh shit', the words slipped through his teeth as he started calling out to Allie.

'Girl you better look up!' he shouted and Allie picked her head up, catching sight of what was about a mile in front of her.

'Fuck!' she said, while slipping her arm around towards her back and pulling her harpoon out in front of her. She started taking steps backwards, and her heart began racing when she realized just how many walkers were making their way towards her.

She turned around and started jogging back towards the direction of the house, 'there's too many' she yelled to Daryl as he prepared his crossbow for action, 'it's a heard, we're gonna have to get out of here'

Daryl scanned his surroundings for a few seconds, knowing Allie was right and they needed to act quickly. There was close to a hundred walkers coming towards the house, and two people against a heard that size just wasn't going to cut it. His eyes settled on the RV next to the barn and he knew it was their only option.

'Go get as many can foods as you possibly can and meet me at the RV, I'm gonna try and hotwire the shit and pray it starts up'

Allie nodded in agreement and took off, fleeing for the house as directed. She was still pissed, but right now really wasn't the time to let her anger get the best of her.

Daryl darted towards the RV and the first thing he did was throw the decaying body, once named Jimmy, out and onto the ground outside of it. He then quickly slammed the door closed, hoping to lock himself in and the walkers out. He got down on his knees and began working on the wires within seconds. As he ripped his teeth through the red and blue wires and tried scratching them together with all different sets, his confidence slowly began fading at his failed attempts. The moans were growing increasingly louder and he bit his lip as he continued trying to spark anything to life. He jumped for a second when the sound of a walker throwing itself onto the door of the RV startled him. The banging and loud moaning became more and more intense with every breath.

All of a sudden one of the wires sparked and the engine roared as loud as a bear finally waking from a long winter's hibernation. There was a whole bunch of popping and squealing noises coming from it; but Daryl didn't care as long as it was on and revving and could get him out of there fast.

He sat up onto the seat and began revving the gas with his foot, when he heard Allie voice slipping through the cracked open window next to him. He glanced over and didn't see her; but again he heard her screaming out his name. His eyes scanned the front porch, which was now swarming with walkers, when he finally caught sight of her on top of the porch roof, where the two had usually kept watch. She was standing on top with her bag and harpoon in her hands trying to wave him down. There were swarms of walkers below her, desperately flailing their arms towards the roof. He considered every possibility in his head, and at one point, the thought of driving off wasn't too far from his thoughts; however, he knew he just didn't have it in him to leave the girl for bait, _even if she was being a bitch_ earlier.

He took one more glance around him and then slammed his foot onto the gas petal. He surged forward, knocking a couple walkers down and running them over.

'You have to jump' he shouted out the window, as the RV swung a complete U-turn and raced towards the house. He drove as close as possible without blocking himself completely of walkers, 'Now!' he demanded, and Allie plunged off the roof landing with a loud thump. 'Hold on' he yelled, as his foot slammed back onto the gas petal and the RV took off, disappearing further and further away from the farm.

When they finally reached about a two miles out from the farm, Daryl pulled over and put the RV in park, giving Allie a chance to get down from the roof and into the passenger seat. As soon as she opened the door, he heard her wince in pain as she pulled herself up and onto the seat.

'You alright?' he asked, discreetly observing her for any bites.

'Yeah' she answered, while clenching her eyes shut, 'but I'm pretty sure the harpoon sliced my shoulder when I took that jump'

Daryl put his hand on her arm, gently guiding her forward so he could take a look at it. Her shirt was drenched in blood, and even though he couldn't see the actual slice, he could tell by the amount of blood that it was pretty deep.

'Shit, looks pretty bad', his eyes searched for something to apply pressure to the wound with, but when he couldn't locate anything he started taking his vest off, and then pulled his shirt over his head, revealing his bare chest. Allie's eyes widened at the sight of his smoothly defined arms, chest, and stomach; biting her lip for a second as her eyes trailed his skin.

'Here press this on it for now' he said as he stuck his shirt out towards her. She shook her thoughts off and grabbed it from him, doing exactly as told. He put his vest back on, over his bare skin, and proceeded to put the RV back into drive.

'Thanks' Allie whispered, studying his face for a reaction; but all he did was step on the gas, making very brief eye contact with her, and the two of them continued driving into the dark of the night, looking for somewhere safe all over again.


	7. Chapter 7

_**Thank you for all the reviews/ follows/ favorites! Thing between Daryl and Allie are starting to heat up in this chapter ;) Enjoy Xoxo**_

* * *

**"An Unequivocal Parallel"**

_Chapter Seven_

* * *

The RV had been moving for what felt like hours by the time Daryl felt it was safe enough to stop. He felt his eyes getting low and the roads becoming blurry in front of him; but he didn't want to park anywhere that could become a possible dead zone either. When they reached the end of a long dirt road, Daryl spotted a moderate sized car lot. The gate was shut and the latch across it, which meant there was no way that any walker could have made it inside the fences. The lot was completely empty, so they wouldn't be invading someone else's camp either. He pulled the RV up towards the gate and took a few seconds to scope the lot out through the windshield.

"Looks safe" Allie suggested as she also scanned the surroundings best she could.

"We should be able to hold up here for tonight at least" his eyes still tracing the lines of the fence. "I'm gonna get out real quick and pull the latch off. When I open the gate, your gonna have to drive in quick so I can shut it behind you"

"Okay" Allie agreed and began moving over to the drivers' seat as Daryl jumped out with his crossbow in hand.

His eyes darted carefully around the truck and then the lot again. He wanted to be absolutely sure that there were no walkers lurking around inside it, and they weren't about to lock themselves in a cage with them. Still seeing nothing, he gave Allie a quick nod and began unlatching the gate. He paused for a second to make sure the sound didn't awake anything he hadn't caught sight of; but when nothing appeared he quickly pulled the gate open and Allie drove the RV inside. Daryl shut the gates right after and started walking over towards the RV, his eyes still wandering around.

Allie opened the door and carefully slid out trying to minimize the pain from her injury; but her face clenched anyway. She stopped for a second to control her breathing and then followed Daryl as he started walking around the lot, doing a last scan of the area.

"It's clear" Daryl confirmed.

Allie was honestly relieved, she really didn't think she would have had it in her for a full fledge battle against the dead tonight.

The two of them walked back over and into the RV. Allie took a seat on the chair beside the table and Daryl dug through the duffle bag in search of a can of vegetables or anything; he was starving. Allie winced when a sharp pain shot through her shoulder, and Daryl looked up at her as she clenched her eyes closed for a second.

"I should take a look at that, see how deep it is," he suggested; pausing from digging through the bag. Allie nodded slightly, letting him know it was okay if he did as suggested. Daryl walked behind her, slipping his finger into the rim of her neckline and pulling the shirt out a bit so he could get a better view. "Damn, it don't look good. Gotta try and close it up or somethin'"

"It's fine, it'll slow down eventually"

"Nah, it's too deep, your jus' gonna keep bleeding" he said as he started rummaging through the drawers of the RV.

"Did the guy who owned this have any kind of first aid kit or anything?" she asked, wondering what he was looking for if it wasn't one.

"No clue; but he did keep thread somewhere. He used it once on someone"; he answered as he pulled a box from the top cabinet. He placed it on the table and flipped open the top; smirking when he saw a spool of black thread with a needle attached, "here we go"

Allie's eyes became weary and she looked at Daryl nervously, "you're gonna sow it closed?"

Daryl slid the end of the thread across his tongue and then carefully placed it through the hole in the needle, "Yep. Gonna have to. Got less of a risk of it gettin' infected that way". Allie's eyes shut as she clenched at the sight of the needle and Daryl scuffed as he looked at her with a confused grin, "You can harpoon the shit outta' walkers, and hunt down deer; but you're squirmin' at the sight of a little needle?"

"Shut up" she muttered as a laugh slipped her mouth, "I've never been good with needles"

Daryl shook his head, still amused; but made his way behind her again. He hesitated for a second when he realized that Allie would need to remove her shirt in order for him to close the wound.

When she felt him standing behind her, doing nothing, she turned her head around to face him, "What's the matter? Somethin' wrong?"

He shook his head no and directed his eyes to the floor nervously, "I'm gonna need you to take your shirt off". Allie froze for a second, her heart rate speeding up inside her chest. "Sorry, it's the only way I'll be able to do it" Daryl muttered softly and Allie just shook her head in agreement.

She looked ahead, definitely not wanting to make eye contact with him. Daryl felt his body tense a little bit when Allie crossed her arms and slowly slid her shirt over her head, revealing the familiar scorpion tattoo on her back.

Allie placed her bloody shirt in front of her chest and didn't say a word as Daryl wet a portion of his t-shirt and cleaned the wound as best as he could, before starting to stitch it.

He focused on the task; but more and more frequently he found himself trailing the curves of Allie's spine with his eyes. It had been a long time since he'd been around a woman and even though he was pretty good at holding himself together, he had to admit that seeing a womans' exposed body was doing a little something to him. Not to mention, the tattoo drawn on her back was a major turn on as well. It made her exterior seem even harder than it already was, giving her just a bit more edge. Daryl knew he was attracted to the girl; but it was no time for any of that, there were more important things to worry about, like staying _alive_.

He mentally scolded himself for letting any kind of arousal enter his thoughts and quickly finished stitching up the wound. Allie hadn't said anything the entire time, and even though the feeling of the needle going through her skin was painful, she didn't even flinch. She felt too exposed and nervous to do anything. She just sat quietly, hugging her shirt in front of her chest and trying to think of anything other than the feeling of Daryl fingers along the back of her bare shoulder blade.

Once Daryl finished, he tied a knot in the loose ends and tapped Allie's shoulder, letting her know it was done. She quickly slipped the shirt back over her head and Daryl placed the thread back into the container and went back to his original searching for canned food. The room filled with silence and Allie bit the inside of her cheek as she immediately noticed the awkwardness between them.

When Daryl finally found a can of green beans, he took a seat opposite of her at the small table. He sliced around the edge of the can with his knife and once he removed the top, he began picking the green beans out with his fingers.

"Thanks", Allie whispered; it was the only thing she could think of to break the silence.

Daryl gave a quick nod, and continued eating.

Allie was hoping for a bit more in response; but she didn't press the issue.

"You're tattoo" Daryl nodded over to her, "it's pretty sick"

Allie smirked, "sick?"

"Yeah, I like it. Whoever did it for you did a good job" Daryl said, licking the access juice off his fingers.

"Thanks" she chuckled, "got it when I was seventeen… tricked the guy with a fake ID… thought I was badass"

A small laugh escaped Daryl's mouth, "so why a scorpion?"

Allie smiled, "It's my sign"

Daryl's brows creased in curiosity, "sign?"

Allie jerked her head forward in disbelief, "Yeah, you know zodiac signs…?"

Daryl rolled his eyes and scoffed, "I don't know about any of that shit…"

"Seriously?"

"Yeah, seriously… the whole stars aligning and crap… it all bullshit anyways"

Allie smirked a little and shrugged, "you're probably right… but whatever"

Daryl placed the empty can on the floor and crushed it with his foot. As he bent down to pick it up, he gave Allie a sideway stare, "you know what I thought when I saw it?"

Allie lips pursed and she rolled her eyes playfully, "Do I even want to know?"

Daryl chuckled, "I thought poison… _deadly_"

Allie raised an eyebrow and smirked, "consider yourself warned"

Daryl laughed and he raised an eyebrow back at her, but silence swallowed the room again.

Allie bit the inside of her cheek again, a habit that was rapidly increasing lately, until she decided to break the quietness again, "Hey… I didn't mean what I said earlier… about you not being a nice guy and all… you are a nice person Daryl… probably one of the nicest people I've come across since all this shit started…"

Daryl glanced quickly at Allie, but turned his eyes away as he nodded. He wasn't good with apologies and stuff, "Sorry for callin' ya a bitch"

She laughed, "It's alright… sometimes I am", he smiled; but her face turned serious again, "it's just… I don't know… I get nervous when I get too close to anyone. Even before all this happened… I've always had a hard time trusting others"

Daryl nodded, "I get it… me too"

Allie smiled and couldn't help but study the facial features of Daryl's face. She felt herself growing attracted to him, and perhaps that was what was scaring her most. The thought of her becoming vulnerable in this world was scary and infatuation only led to vulnerability.

"Listen, I wanna try an' get some sleep before the sun comes up. There only one bed back there, so go 'head, Imma' sleep over on the couch" he said as a yawn broke through his mouth.

"You can take the bed, I'll be fine out here", Allie suggested; but Daryl quickly shook his head no.

"Nah, I rather be out here anyway. Go' head"

Allie agreed and the two of them stood up from the chairs. As they went to move across each other and towards their directions, their skin brushed against each other in the small space and they became still for a second. They stared for a split second and all of a sudden Allie leaned forward pressing her lips onto Daryl's. She didn't know what overcame her, but being within inches of his face caused something to just leap forward. Daryl didn't fight it initially and he lost control of his hands for a split second, as he placed them gently on her hips. Their lips parted briefly, but before anything could continue further, Daryl backed his face away and refrained himself.

Allie instantly felt her stomach dip when he slipped out of his position and walked over to the couch without saying a word. She felt ashamed and embarrassed… it was obvious that he didn't want to reciprocate the kiss, so now she basically made a fool of herself also.

She glanced over at him and whispered "sorry", and then quickly made her way into the back area where the bed was.

Daryl sat on the couch shaking his head and mentally scolding himself for even letting the kiss last as long as it did. He'd seen what romance and infatuation did to Shane, Rick and Lori, and he sure as hell wasn't going to let that happen to him too. This world wasn't made for romance shit… that was long gone… and with that, he rested his head back on the couch and shut his eyes; continuously fighting with his mind to rid the memory of the kiss.

* * *

_**So, what did you guys think? Things are starting to heat up now… will Daryl let go soon or will it take a lot more to get him to budge? Will this kiss now affect their relationship? Will Allie pull away now? And what happened to Michonne, now that Allie and Daryl had to leave the farm? Will they return to get her? Will they run into any others soon? Let me know your thoughts! **_


End file.
